Signs of healing separated the ante-mortem trauma from the peri-mortem, while the lighter shade and jagged edges set apart the post-mortem from the peri-mortem. Ewan referenced a concerned book on the side for confirmation and focused on the peri-mortem trauma, the cause of death. He found it on three skeletons.
The older female skeleton had multiple stab wounds in her sternum and ribs that showed no signs of healing and had smooth edges with concentric radiating fractures—this was her cause of death. The shape of the gashes, the force behind each attack, their random placement, and their numbers hinted towards a passionate killer who stabbed her at a perpendicular angle, when she was lying down perhaps. He stabbed her again and again, until she took her last breath.
The only male skeleton apart from Walyn had a web of cracks on the right side of his skull, around the temple, originating from a focal point. The fractures were of the same color gradient as the rest of the skull without any indication of recovery—this was his cause of death. The size and the shape of the blunt trauma suggested a single damage from the side that took this man’s life.
The second female skeleton who was Walyn’s sister also had a similar webbing crack on the back of her skull. The same color gradient as the rest of the skull and depressed but still attached bones proved this to be the peri-mortem wound—this was her cause of death. Either someone pummeled her with a blunt weapon from behind or she fell back to her death.
The last remaining one was Walyn’s bones who most likely died from dehydration and hunger. And the lack of any peri-mortem damage proved it.
…..
The sea burial ended in peace with Walyn bawling at the sight of his family’s skeletons sinking deep into the ocean. The receding waves took them away, bringing them into the embrace of Morinfair. They would rest in peace there, the tradition of Drarith had always believed.
Ewan accompanied Walyn on the secluded stony beach, staring at the moons’ flickering reflections on the ocean in silence. Death deserved his respect, and he complied. When Walyn’s bawls stifled down to sniffs and cries, when he accepted his family’s departure, Ewan brought them back to the villa, selecting a suitable stone along the way for the gravestone. Walyn didn’t ask for much, so Ewan only etched his family’s names with the Obsidian Dagger and erected the rough but symmetric gravestone on the original grave in the yard.
“Go sleep,” he said, arranging a room for them that was fairly free of dust. Though Walyn had his closure, the matter was far from done for Ewan. He proved the problem’s existence, now was the time to find the solution. And so, another task squeezed into his already long list of tasks and settled down around the middle of his priority index. The twenty-four hours a day now seemed even shorter…
…..
Dawn had already sparked the day when Ewan emerged from the ice-element bath, and the cries of war trickled in by the time he cleaned up. Another day of fights and deaths, and another day of chaos.
Ewan met Norton again after he left Kidd and Walyn to practice and went down the mountain, and today too, he wandered in the forest with the man in tow. Kiev’s anger might’ve cooled off, but he didn’t intend to let off the leash. Nevertheless, the seed Ewan planted in Norton’s mind remained active and pulsing. It would remain so unless a master of mystic acted on it, so he beelined for the cave without any detour.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Rain didn’t show up today either. Since he couldn’t use a guinea pig to explore the cave in his current situation, Ewan only traced his steps around it for the day, studied whatever he could on his feet, added and tweaked some memories for Norton that could expose him, and walked back to the city when dusk descended.
The twilight and the succeeding night didn’t bring any surprises either. The bonfires still raged; the meats still sizzled. The drunkards sang along, while the men and women humped. The moons rose along their arcs as always, and the dead drifted off into the ocean.
When Ewan returned to the villa after his usual day, Kidd and Walyn were jumping around, walking in nigh sync, making fewer mistakes. Their scraping voice had also settled down and was maturing into an adult-like deep voice that carried a hint of Kidd’s original childish pitch. A few more days of practice should let them walk and talk normally. Now, the only problem that remained was the visible division of their face and body. If they couldn’t solve it, they couldn’t appear before others without freaking them out.
Ashevas weren’t an issue as they accepted the weirdness of the world, but the Kyrons with their mundane imagination could be troublesome. Especially when Ewan had to deal with them on a daily basis nowadays.
And so, he searched the hub and bought them a cheap mask that worked almost the same as his neck gaiter, albeit with no growth margin—an onyx mask with no facial features and only two rhombus holes for the eyes. It aided the usage of dark element and reduced their presence.
The gift of mask had them hooting and springing around, their eyes glittering as they played the ‘shadow man’ with it. Kidd had his affinity to support the Anima consumption and Walyn was a child of the dark to begin with. The mask worked for them without the training wheels.
Ewan left them to their games and prepared another element bath. The frigid blood brimming with Ice-Anima embraced him as he lay in the tub, severing his senses from the world outside. The cave, the war, and Kiev’s ploys occupied his day, so he could only give his nights to the baths.
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Status: Healthy
Step-0 [9th Awakening]
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 2.0
Spirit: 19.9
Anima: [Fire – 19.9 | Ice – 19.9 | Blood – 19.9]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [9th Awakening]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-B]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-B]
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Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-S]
Equipment: Common Clothes; Yurn [Neck Gaiter]; Moonkeeper [Crystal-Ball].
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals [Novas Coins]; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 66,267
Crelith: 3,887